Doing more with less - How the Zebra WS50 wearable computer is changing work in logistics, industry and warehouses.

Interview: Doing more with less

How the Zebra WS50 wearable computer is changing work in logistics, industry and warehouses.

The demands on the technologies used in the world of work are changing rapidly – including in the transport & logistics, industry and warehouse sectors. Harriette Wysocki, Jarltech's UK Country Manager, spoke to Paul Reed, Regional Product Manager – Enterprise Mobile Computing at Zebra Technologies.

Harriette Wysocki: Hello Paul Reed, thank you for finding the time to talk. An old business saying goes: Where there's a problem, there's a market. Therefore, let us get started with this question: What problem does the WS50 solve?

Paul Reed: Hello Harriette, I am pleased to be able to talk to you. Well, the challenges we're seeing customers face is that they want to do more with less. They've got workers out there trying to do activities, but they're not connected. So how do we help give them information at the point of activity? When you couple that with the challenges around needing to complete hands-free activities, we have users with multiple devices trying to collect information, do an activity and process that information today with two-piece solutions. What do we mean by two-piece solutions? A mobile computer with connectivity (Wi-Fi), a processor that can run the enterprise application, talking via Bluetooth to a finger or hand-worn barcode scanner. Having 2 elements brings complexity, additional user training, additional charging and device management. The WS50 is an industry-first, being the World’s Smallest All-in-One Android Enterprise-Class Wearable Mobile Computer – this brings all these capabilities into one small, 2-inch display-enabled device that can be worn on two fingers, back of hand or even on a wrist.

Harriette Wysocki: Where do these problems occur most often? Which applications and industries benefit most from such a device?

Paul Reed: These challenges are experienced mostly in environments where there is a high level of manual labour while also collecting business data such as barcode scanning. The industries that we are seeing really benefit from this increased capability, and hands-free activities include parcels & logistics, warehouse picking & manufacturing. In parcels and logistics, we have workers receiving hundreds of parcels an hour and they are expected to scan each and sort into the right container or truck.  Warehouse picking is all about accuracy and pick rates (speed). Going to the right location, picking the right item, in the correct quantity and placing them into the correct tote or trolly is essential. And manufacturing is similar, scanning the job to be completed, the components used and recording the activity.

All these require a worker to understand the task, often from the device screen, perform the physical activity, while collecting enterprise data such as barcodes, RFIDs or photographs. Having one device which can be worn and enable the worker to perform all these efficiently is what the WS50 has been designed for.

Harriette Wysocki: The WS50 adapts to different conditions and personal preferences with different mounts – which enables it to be repositioned depending on the situation. Now you have added the RFID reader function. How do you ensure that the RFID reliably reads the information despite the large number of wearing options – also if the user's arm might be in the way?

Paul Reed: You're right, the WS50 has been designed so that it can be worn either on two fingers, on the back of a hand, or even on the wrist. Now, given the need for RFID reading, what we've done is extended that capability with an embedded RFID reader that can read upwards from the WS50. If the user needs to read tags in a different orientation, perhaps underneath their arm. Then we have a secondary antenna that can be fitted and enable reading in the opposite direction, meaning we can read in two directions.

For example, in the case of a worker moving parcels, they might want to use the additional reader so that, when they pick up the box with two hands, the reader under the wrist automatically captures the parcel RFID tag. If they then load a truck with a full pallet or cage of parcels, the embedded RFID reader in the WS50 can easily read an overhead tag in the truck to validate that the right parcels have been loaded onto the right vehicle.

Harriette Wysocki: Like the device, the display is also very compact. Nevertheless, it offers enough space for the essential functions. What else does the WS50 offer for user-friendly and uncomplicated operation?

Paul Reed: There are a number of additional functions that we've built into the WS50 to make it easy to use. It's a fully connected device with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and even NFC, so if you do want to use a peripheral like a Bluetooth headset, you can tap to pair, making it really easy to then get voice instructions or VoIP voice calls.

All W50s have the ability to read barcodes, whether it's through the integrated camera or the more dedicated barcode readers. We even have one scan engine that has a proximity sensor. Which means if you are performing scan-intensive operations and don't want to manually trigger the barcode each time, it can automatically detect that an item is in front of it and turn on the scanner to read it.

Additionally, it is an enterprise device, so there are charging solutions for all sizes of customers, from a 2-device charger up to a 10-device charger, making it easy for workers to start their shift with a ready-to-go WS50.Harriette Wysocki: What else did you consider in the development process to make the WS50 easy to use?

Paul Reed: As the WS50 is a wearable mobile computer, a lot of our time was spent focusing on how to make this comfortable for workers to wear for the full length of their shift, whether it be two hours or 10 hours. We also recognise that everybody is different and thought about how we could make it comfortable for everyone. So, we have flexibility around different wearing options, whether it be on 2 fingers, wrist-mounted or back of hand, left, right, small, medium or large. We invested considerable thought and time to make these comfortable and ergonomic yet enterprise-suitable.

Additionally, when designing the device itself we had to compromise between having the screen large enough that you can use it but not too big to be worn and a battery that's going to last long enough without being heavy.

We also planned that users might want to have the ability to jump between applications so we included two physical buttons which can be set by the applications.

Lastly, the WS50 is built to last. We recognise that this is a business tool, so we have designed it to withstand the daily demands of a worker, from knocks to drops. It is IP65-compliant, so sealed against accidental spills and tested to withstand over 2,000 1.2m drops (2 finger / back of hand mount) – that’s almost 2 drops each day for 3 years!

Harriette Wysocki: Is the WS50 also compatible with common Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) systems?

Paul Reed: The WS50 can easily be integrated into existing Enterprise systems. Running Android 11 AOSP means that there is a large and very capable developer community who can easily develop or adapt applications to the 2-inch display. We offer additional development support through our published and freely available software developer kits which give further programmatical capabilities for things such as barcode or RFID reading (developer.zebra.com) We have also partnered with a number of leading software providers who provide interface capabilities to existing Warehouse Management Systems, via terminal emulation, making it very easy and straightforward to connect the WS50 to a WMS and show the worker instructions on the smaller display.

The WS50 is, at its heart, an Enterprise device, so we have partnered with industry leading EMM providers so that it can be fully managed. With the security updates we provide via our Lifeguard updates, an EMM can help both secure and manage the WS50 as part of any enterprise deployment.

The WS50 has been designed to meet the Enterprise needs of anybody who needs to work with both hands, while at the same time receiving instructions & collecting business data.

Harriette Wysocki: Thank you, Paul!

Paul Reed: No problem, I was happy to answer your questions.